Design-process integration and shared red bricks

This paper discusses the relationships between the design technology industry and other (process, manufacturing) semiconductor supplier industries, against the backdrop of the semiconductor industry's overall technology requirements (the 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors). The central claim is that "design-process integration" is by no means blocked by lack of awareness of important problems; the key problems (e.g., manufacturing handoff, reticle enhancement methods, design for variability, etc.) are well known. Rather, design technology currently faces too many more pressing demands relative to its Limited resources. This situation can improve only when the semiconductor industry and its supplier industries together adopt the perspective of "sharing red bricks", i.e., identifying the most cost-effective and synergetic solutions to technology requirements from principled analyses of costs and returns on investment.